Jamie Donaldson

James Ross Donaldson (born 19 October 1975) is a Welsh professional golfer who plays on the European Tour.

Jamie Donaldson
Donaldson at 2008 Swiss Open
Personal information
Full nameJames Ross Donaldson
Born (1975-10-19) 19 October 1975
Pontypridd, Wales
Height5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight79 kg (174 lb; 12.4 st)
Nationality Wales
ResidenceMacclesfield, England
Career
Turned professional2000
Current tour(s)European Tour
Former tour(s)PGA Tour
Professional wins8
Highest ranking23 (23 November 2014)[1]
Number of wins by tour
European Tour3
Asian Tour1
Challenge Tour3
Other1
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentT14: 2014
PGA ChampionshipT7: 2012
U.S. OpenT32: 2013
The Open ChampionshipT32: 2013

Professional career

Donaldson was born in Pontypridd. He turned professional in 2000. Having failed to come through the European Tour's qualifying school, in 2001 he played predominantly on the second tier Challenge Tour. He won the BMW Russian Open and the Telia Grand Prix in Sweden on his way to second place in the Challenge Tour Rankings. He also made the most of limited opportunities on the elite tour, making five cuts from seven events, with two top ten finishes, as he ended the season inside the top 100 on the Order of Merit to earn his European Tour card for 2002.

Donaldson spent the next few years playing on the European Tour, reaching a best of 58th on the final Order of Merit in 2003, but began to be troubled by back problems in 2004. In 2007 he was back on the Challenge Tour, but showed a return to form, picking up his third Challenge Tour win at the Abierto Telefonica de Guatemala on his way to 4th place on the end of season rankings. He was back on the European Tour in 2008 and was again inside the top 100 on the Order of Merit to maintain his playing rights for the 2009 season.

He has since performed consistently, finishing in the top 50 on the Order of Merit in both 2010 and 2011.

On 1 July 2012, Donaldson won his maiden European Tour title at The Irish Open at Royal Portrush, finishing 4 strokes ahead of three other players.[2] Donaldson had held a two stroke advantage after 54 holes and pressed ahead earlier during his round with birdies at 2, 3 and 4. Despite two dropped shots on 11 and 16, he found five more birdies on the back nine to finish with a 66 and clinch the title. His first victory came at the 255th attempt and also made him the 10th Welshman to taste success on the European Tour.

Donaldson finished T7 at the 2012 PGA Championship. He finished the season ranked 19th on the Race to Dubai and he plans to join the PGA Tour for the 2013 season.[3] The 2013 season will also mark Donaldson's first appearance at the Masters; he earned entry after finishing 2012 season ranked 47th in the Official World Golf Ranking.

In his second start of the 2013 season and thirteen events after his maiden victory, Donaldson won his second European Tour title at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship. Starting the final round two back of Justin Rose, Donaldson made five birdies in seventeen holes to move two clear of the field, but a late bogey at the par five 18th hole meant a nervous wait to watch the final group come home. First Thorbjørn Olesen, then Rose had putts to force a playoff but both missed narrowly to see Donaldson to victory by one stroke.[4] With the win, Donaldson became only the seventh Welshman to win multiple titles on the European Tour and it moved him inside the top 30 of the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time in his career. On 11 April, he became the fifth man in history to record a hole-in-one on the 6th hole at Augusta National Golf Club during the 2013 Masters Tournament.[5] He finished the 2013 season ranked 5th on the Race to Dubai.

Donaldson played well enough on the 2014 PGA Tour as a non-member to earn a PGA Tour card for the 2014–15 season.

Donaldson secured the winning point for Europe in the 2014 Ryder Cup, with a wedge shot onto the 15th green, beating Keegan Bradley 4 & 3.

Just three years later, Donaldson was on the verge of losing his European Tour card. However, he finished fourth in the final event, the Andalucía Valderrama Masters, to move inside the top 101 of the Race to Dubai standings to secure his playing rights for the 2018 season.[6]

Amateur wins (2)
  • 1997 Welsh Amateur Championship
  • 2000 Welsh Amateur Open Stroke Play Championship

Professional wins (8)

European Tour wins (3)
No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 1 Jul 2012 The Irish Open 68-67-69-66=270 −18 4 strokes Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Anthony Wall,
Fabrizio Zanotti
2 20 Jan 2013 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship 67-70-69-68=274 −14 1 stroke Thorbjørn Olesen, Justin Rose
3 24 Aug 2014 D+D Real Czech Masters 66-69-71-68=274 −14 2 strokes Bradley Dredge

Asian Tour wins (1)
Legend
Thailand Golf Championships (1)
Other Asian Tour (0)
No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory		 Runners-up
1 13 Dec 2015 Thailand Golf Championship 63-68-71-65=267 −21 3 strokes Clément Sordet, Lee Westwood

Challenge Tour wins (3)
No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 5 Aug 2001 BMW Russian Open 65-66-71-68=270 −18 3 strokes Michael Archer, Mikael Piltz
2 16 Sep 2001 Telia Grand Prix 66-69-65-70=270 −22 Playoff Magnus Persson Atlevi
3 18 Feb 2007 Abierto Telefonica de Guatemala1 63-65-69-68=265 −23 1 stroke Emilio Domínguez

1Co-sanctioned by the Tour de las Américas

Challenge Tour playoff record (1–0)

No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
1 2001 Telia Grand Prix Magnus Persson Atlevi Won with par on third extra hole

Other wins (1)

Results in major championships
Tournament 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Masters Tournament CUT T14 T33 T21
U.S. Open T32 CUT CUT CUT
The Open Championship CUT T60 T32 CUT T49 T72
PGA Championship CUT T7 WD T24 WD T42
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
WD = withdrew
"T" = tied

Summary
TournamentWins2nd3rdTop-5Top-10Top-25EventsCuts made
Masters Tournament00000243
U.S. Open00000041
The Open Championship00000064
PGA Championship00001263
Totals0000142011
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 2 (four times, current)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 1

Results in The Players Championship
Tournament 20142015
The Players Championship T38 T8
  Top 10

"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

Results not in chronological order before 2015.

Tournament20122013201420152016
Championship T63 T2 T44 T35
Match Play R64 R64 T17 T18
Invitational T36 T17 T37 T50
Champions T42 T8 T24
  Top 10
  Did not play

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = tied

Team appearances

Amateur

Professional

See also

References
  1. "Week 47 2014 Ending 23 Nov 2014" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  2. "Welshman Donaldson wins Irish Open". Times of India. 1 July 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  3. Ross, Helen (14 August 2012). "Donaldson hopes to earn Tour card". PGA Tour. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  4. "Jamie Donaldson beats Justin Rose to win Abu Dhabi title". BBC Sport. 20 January 2013. Retrieved 29 January 2013.
  5. "Masters 2013: Jamie Donaldson fires hole-in-one on debut". BBC Sport. 11 April 2013. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
  6. McEwan, Michael (23 October 2017). "Jamie Donaldson narrowly retains European Tour card". bunkered.
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